Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique has backed Ousmane Dembele to win the Ballon d’Or after he helped encourage the French membership’s maiden Champions League success final season forward of the 69th version of the awards ceremony which can happen on the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris at present, 22 September.
Softfootball understands that Dembele is among the high contenders to win this 12 months’s Ballon d’Or after the most effective season of his profession. The previous Barcelona man helped PSG win the Champions League for the primary time, together with popping out on high in Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.
The 28-year-old, who’s vying with the likes of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Actual Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe for the Golden Ball, additionally scored 35 targets and added 16 assists final season, but when he wins the award at present, he might not have the honour of being current on the prestigious ceremony.
In keeping with Fabrizio Romano through his Fb web page, Paris Saint-Germain supervisor Luis Enrique has reiterated that Ousmane Dembélé has been his Ballon d’Or decide for months. The Spaniard pointed to the ahead’s standout performances significantly in final season’s Champions League remaining as proof of his high quality and affect. The put up reads:
Luis Enrique: Ousmane is MY BALLON D’OR since MONTHS AGO. Bear in mind how he defended in that Champions League remaining.
The Ballon d’Or ceremony may very well be with out a number of of Paris Saint-Germain’s largest names after organizers confirmed that the extremely anticipated Le Classique in opposition to Marseille has been rescheduled to Monday night time as a result of forecasts of extreme storms in southern France.
The change creates a significant scheduling headache for the Ligue 1 big, because the match will now conflict with the Ballon d’Or ceremony the place a number of of the membership’s high gamers are anticipated to be honored. Amongst them is Ousmane Dembélé, broadly tipped as one of many main contenders for the lads’s Ballon d’Or,
9 different PSG gamers have additionally been nominated for awards, making the Parisian aspect essentially the most represented membership on the shortlist. Nonetheless, with the sport now kicking off on the identical time in Marseille, gamers may very well be compelled to prioritise the derby over soccer’s most prestigious particular person awards.
PSG boss Luis Enrique is already with out Dembélé and rising star Désiré Doué for the match as a result of harm, which means the pair should still have the ability to attend the ceremony in the event that they select.
The Bouches-du-Rhône area, the place the Vélodrome is positioned is at present beneath an orange alert for heavy rain, flooding and thunderstorms, prompting officers to postpone Sunday’s fixture to keep away from security dangers.
The conflict between membership obligation and soccer’s glitziest awards night time comes a 12 months after Actual Madrid overshadowed the 2024 ceremony by boycotting it in protest of Vinícius Júnior lacking out on the highest prize to Manchester Metropolis’s Rodri. This time, PSG’s potential absence can be for solely totally different causes, a fixture reshuffle reasonably than protest.
